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Topic: How Long is Too Long? (Read 906 times)

I was pulled away from my brew last night to go out. I finished the boil and left out the kettle, covered, in the garage at 45F. When I got home, I transferred it to my chest freezer at 43F and this afternoon the wort was down to 66F. It will probably take a few more hours for it to get down to ~48F so I can pitch the yeast.

So, if covered in my chest freezer, how long is too long before pitching the yeast?

There is no exact answer but you should be fine. Maybe up to a couple days if you didn't lift the lid.

I opened the lid to aerate about an hour ago and two other times to take the temperature. It's only down to 63F now, but I remembered that I had two large iced tea containers with frozen water in my freezer. Your trick Euge! Your post reminded me, thanks!

Got it down to 54F in a little over an hour. Had to transfer and pitch as we are going out to dinner. I figure 54F down to 51F is not going to hurt much, especially since I pitched over 700B cells......

It depends how clean your wort is. I once had to leave some wort sitting at room temperature for days while I replaced a chest freezer (it was a lager and I didn't want to pitch too warm). No infection. Some bacteria can be slow to take hold, though, so if it seems okay after fermentation, keep it cold and drink it fast. :-)